


When the Sunlight melts the Snow

by LadyKeladry



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Complete, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-09 16:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKeladry/pseuds/LadyKeladry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Hyle Hunt finally won Brienne of Tarth's hand in marriage. (Mentions of Brienne/Jaime.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She was lying on the ground, her head resting on Ser Jaime’s rolled-up white cloak, while he was untying the laces of her shirt. Brienne winced, as he pulled the cloth from the bleeding wound on her belly. 

“Be careful where you touch my betrothed,” Ser Hyle said, kneeling down next to her. He had brought some wine to wash out her injury. 

“I’m not your betrothed,” Brienne said, completely missing the dirty look that Jaime shot Hyle. 

“Not yet.” 

“Not ever.” 

“You are the most pig-headed woman I have ever met.” 

Brienne couldn’t help but smile at that. She was dizzy with blood loss and the cut hurt, but it wasn’t fatal and she couldn’t remember the last time she had been so – well, happy. They had escaped Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood without Banners, she was alive, Hyle was alive and – most importantly – Podrick and Jaime were alive. 

“You know, you could have told me that this was your plan all along,” Jaime said. “It would have saved me the trouble of thinking you betrayed me and trying to kill you.” 

“As if you stood a chance against her, Lefty,” Hyle said. Jaime had decided to ignore him, which seemed to infuriate Hyle. 

“It had to look real,” Brienne explained, “I couldn’t risk the Brotherhood realizing that I would try to save you.” She tried to focus on his face, but she felt herself drifting off. 

“And you did save me, again.” Jaime leaned down and he might have kissed her scarred cheek and Hyle might have frowned at that, but she couldn’t be sure as this was the moment she lost consciousness. 

When Brienne awoke it was dark. Her belly hurt, but she managed to sit up with Pod’s help. Leaning on his shoulder she walked the few steps to the fire, where Hyle and Jaime were sitting, each one occupied with eating their food and ignoring the other man. Hyle had a suspicious looking new bruise on his left cheek. 

“What happened to your face, Ser?” 

“Nothing I didn’t deserve,” he murmured without looking at her. Then he suddenly stood up. “I need to take a piss,” he announced and left the clearing where they had set up camp. 

“What is it with you two?” Brienne asked Jaime, as she sat down next to him, wincing because of her freshly stitched up wound. 

Jaime, who had been studying the fire’s reflection in his golden hand, lifted his head to look at her. “You need to eat and then get some more rest, wench. We have a long ride ahead of us back to my camp.” 

“My name is-“ 

“Brienne, my protector.” He smiled at her. “And if I was not sworn to the Kingsguard, you’d soon be... But I am, and I won’t break another vow.” 

Brienne looked away, swallowing hard. She wasn’t sure, what he was trying to say – wasn’t even sure, if she wanted to know. But she was glad when Hyle returned and started talking to Podrick about the boy’s fighting style against the Brotherhood. 


	2. Chapter 2

Once they had reached Jaime’s camp, Brienne wanted to be on her way again as soon as possible. Her wound was – well, not healed, but the pain was bearable enough. It almost didn’t hurt when she was riding and she simply had to leave, because otherwise she would give into that small voice in the back of her head. The voice that told her that she should give up her fool’s quest and stay. Stay with him. It was a ridiculous thought and yet... 

“I will release you of your vows, if you want me to,” Jaime had told her and she had been so very tempted. But one of the only things that she had not lost in these last few years was her stubbornness and she wasn’t going to give it up now. So she thanked him for his offer, but declined and was on her way again before she could do something stupid like telling him things that would likely just make him laugh at her – or worse, pity her. 

As Brienne rode away, she looked over her shoulder one last time and saw Jaime standing before his tent, looking after her, his hair shining golden in the sunlight. 

Podrick followed her and Hyle too – only the gods knew why he didn’t leave her. She sure wouldn’t have blamed him, after all he had been severely beaten and almost executed just for having been with her. And yet he stayed at her side, talking about the reward which the “future Queen in the North” would bestow upon them, once they had saved her. 

“There are easier ways of gaining a fortune,” Brienne told him. “Easier than this particular quest... and safer travelling companions.” 

“I’m sure there are,” Hyle answered. “But life at your side is ever so entertaining.” 

He actually winked at her and then spurred his horse to a trot. Brienne shook her head in disbelief. What was she supposed to make of this man? 

“My lady, Ser, do you really think that we’ll find Sansa Stark in the Vale?” Podrick asked later that evening, after they had decided to spend the night in a small forest clearing. 

“It’s a chance,” Brienne answered, staring into the flames of their tiny campfire. It really had been the only place left she could think of. 

“Or we could simply ask the next Septon we meet to marry us and then catch a ship to Tarth,” Hyle said, throwing another twig into the fire. 

“I will never abandon lady Sansa,” Brienne answered stubbornly, pulling her cloak closer around her shoulders. It was an ordinary brown but warm soldier’s cloak Jaime had given her before they had parted ways. 

“Let’s just be married then.” 

“When will you stop asking me?” 

“As soon as you decide to marry another. Or chase me away with your sword – the gods know I couldn’t take you.” 

She bit her tongue then, not telling him that some nights, when she felt cold and lonely, she wished she would let him take her. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling quite inspired right now, so here's the third chapter of my little fic.  
> Reviews are always welcome :)

Sounds from the room next door woke Brienne. She sat up in her bed in the small inn where they had chosen to spend the night, still drowsy, glancing at Podrick, who was lying next to her, sleeping soundly. Ever since they had escaped the Brotherhood without Banners, the boy was being haunted by nightmares and the only thing that could chase them away was sleeping curled up next to Brienne, so she let him stay in her bed every night, wondering if this was what being a mother felt like. 

Suddenly she heard the sounds from next door again. Screams. From Hyle’s room. 

Brienne stood up, grabbed her sword and ran outside. Hyle’s door was locked, so she kicked it open with her foot and stormed inside. And there he was, sitting on his bed, alone, unharmed, no danger in sight. 

“Brienne?” He was breathing heavily and she could see drops of sweat glistening on his brow in the moonlight that fell through the window into the room. 

“I thought... I heard you screaming.” Suddenly she felt very silly, standing in the open door, wearing only breeches and a thin shirt, bare feet, tangled hair, a sword in her right hand, ready to battle shadows. 

“A bad dream – it was just a bad dream... Stoneheart -” He didn’t need to finish the sentence; Brienne understood. 

“But I’m glad to know that there’s a gallant knight willing to come to my rescue should I be in any trouble,” Hyle said grinning. 

“Don’t you mock me!” Brienne glared at him. 

“I’m being serious, it’s good to know you have my back.” Hyle pushed his damp hair out of his face. “I could almost start believing you cared about me.” 

“Of course I care about you,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. That put a smirk on Hyle’s face. “I only meant to say that... you’re not quite as dishonourable as I once thought you were,” she continued weakly. 

“Be careful now. Next thing you know, you’ll be accepting my offer of marriage.” 

“That’s not going to happen.” 

“We’ll see.” 

“Good night, Ser Hyle.” She turned to leave, but he caught a glimpse of the faint smile on her lips and somehow this made it easier to fall asleep again and dream of things far more pleasant than lady Stoneheart and her band of outlaws. 


	4. Chapter 4

In the end they did find Sansa Stark in the Vale. Brienne thought that maybe fate was trying to compensate for all the misfortunes that had happened to her on her quest. After all it was almost easy to help Lady Sansa and her new husband Lord Harry to win back the North. And when the civil war finally ended, she was crowned Sansa, Queen in the North – or “The Light of the North” as they called her in the songs. 

Queen Sansa was a very just and generous queen to all those who had aided her and soon Podrick Payne was knighted, Ser Hyle was the new lord of Dreadfort and Brienne was offered a position in the Queensguard. But as soon as this dream came true, Brienne found that she had to decline. For she had travelled the lands for so long, seeking honour and justice, that now, after she had fought all those battles, she longed for nothing more than to return home to her father’s loving arms and to Tarth’s calmingly blue seas, pools and waterfalls. 

“Return home, if this is what you wish for,” Queen Sansa said. “But know that you will always have a second home in the North, and I do have a feeling that we will see each other again.” She then took the tall lady knight’s hands in her own and Brienne had to suppress the tears welling up in her eyes. 

Hyle found her early next morning in the great hall, standing by the fire, staring into the flames. 

“I heard that you plan on leaving us tomorrow.” 

“It’s time to go home, finally.” 

“Would you care for some company on your journey?” 

She looked at him, studying his plain face, hazel eyes, the scar near his left ear. 

“I thought you would like to hurry to Dreadfort, the reward you fought so hard for these past years.” 

“Yes, but I should also like to see that Sapphire Isle of yours. Besides, I imagine, now that the war is over, your journey would be quite boring without my witty remarks.” 

“Probably.” 

“My lady, is this the first time in your life that you are actually agreeing with me on something?” He smiled affectionately and she had to look away. Lately she found it way too easy to forget how much he had hurt her once, and to only remember how he had been her companion these last few years, fighting at her side and shielding her back as she shielded his. It was so easy – too easy – to trust him, but the only man who had ever earned her trust was Jaime. Jaime... she sometimes found herself thinking of him, wondering what he was doing, wondering if things had been different, if she had been beautiful... But there was no point in thinking about what might have been. 

Brienne and Hyle left the next day as the sun was rising. Spring had finally arrived, the sunlight had melted the snow and the Kingsroad was open. It was a fairly uneventful journey until they arrived at the Inn at the Crossroads. 

******* 

“The Kingslayer is dead,” the innkeeper told them. Queen Daenerys had had him executed for murdering her father and put his head on a spike for all the world to see. 

Hyle wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry at that. The Kingslayer had survived so much, only to have it end this way, having it all come back to that one crime that had made him famous all this time ago. But when Hyle saw the look on Brienne’s face, he didn’t feel like laughing after all. 

“I’m sorry,” Hyle said later, when he found her sitting on the bed in her small room. 

“No, you’re not,” she retorted calmy. He had expected her to cry, once she was alone, but her expression of utter defeat was worse. 

“No, I’m not. But I know that you loved the Kingslayer.” 

“Jaime, his name was Jaime.” 

“And I know that Ser Jaime loved you,” he said softly, sitting down next to her. 

“What makes you say that?” She was staring at her clenched together hands. 

“Because he punched me in the face with that golden hand of his, when I told him how you and I first met.” 

Now she raised her had to look at him and he could see in her eyes that she remembered. Remembered when they had escaped the Brotherhood, when she had been unconscious, when she had awoken to find Jaime and Hyle sitting at the fire, Hyle sporting a new bruise on his left cheek. That’s when Brienne started crying and Hyle took her in his arms. 

She cried a long time, her body shaking with sobs, and he could feel her heart breaking – no, shattering into a million pieces. But once her tears had dried she pulled back, looking at him questioningly. 

“Brienne-” he started, but she silenced him with a kiss. It was a clumsy, unskilled kiss, but passionate enough to arouse him. 

“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” she whispered against his lips. 

“Yes, but-” 

She kissed him again and he forgot, why this was a bad idea, and pushed her down onto the bed to finally take what he had desired for so long. He might have rushed things too much and it probably hurt her, given that she was still a maid, but she held onto him, moaning his name as if to remind herself who she was giving herself to, and he promised himself that the next time he would be gentler and make sure that she enjoyed it as much as he did. 

Afterwards, as he lay on his back, her head resting on his beast as he held her in his arms, he asked her to marry him – but she declined, as always. 

_She trusts me with her body, but not with her heart,_ he thought, as he drifted off to sleep. 


	5. Chapter 5

Their journey to Tarth was over quickly, too quickly for Hyle’s taste. He enjoyed those early spring days spent on the road with Brienne telling him about her childhood on the Sapphire Isle. And what he enjoyed even more were the nights he spent teaching her about love. But then their last night arrived, in which they shared a single room in a small inn. On the next day they would take a ship to Tarth and so this night, as they lay together in bed, Brienne told him that they had to stop doing what they were doing. She said it with some hesitation, as if she was expecting him to get angry, but he just sighed. 

“I know,” Hyle said, running the fingers of his right hand through her hair, which she had cut quite short a few months ago, but which she was growing out again. “I wasn’t planning on sharing your bed in your father’s house – lest he know I dishonoured his only daughter.” 

Brienne raised her head off his chest to look into his eyes. “This does not dishonour me,” she said and kissed him softly on the lips. 

Hyle wondered for a brief moment when the former Maid of Tarth had lost so much of her shyness. Was it when she had almost been executed for being the Kingslayer’s whore? Was it when she fulfilled her promise to Lady Catelyn to bring Sansa Stark to safety? Was it when she heard of the death of the man she loved, or was it when she first gave herself to another man? But then Hyle realized that this was not a night for deep thoughts, and so he pulled her closer to lose himself once again in the heat of her body. 

******* 

It was a sunny and almost warm day, when Brienne and Hyle arrived on Tarth and were greeted by Lord Selwyn and his new wife, the young and obviously pregnant Lady Kathryn, whose very existence was a mild shock for both newcomers. But at least Brienne seemed to overcome her astonishment quickly, as she saw her father’s warm smile and bent down to embrace the older man. 

After the small welcoming feast in the evening Hyle wandered around the castle, ending up on a small balcony outside the library with a spectacular view of a waterfall crashing into a lake. To his surprise he found Brienne standing there, looking at the starlight reflected in the pond beneath them. When she heard Hyle approaching, she turned her head to look at him with a strange expression on her face. 

“How glad you must be that I always declined your proposals of marriage,” she said wistfully. 

“Why would I be?” He placed his hands on the balcony rail, taking in the splendid view of the sparkling waterfall. 

“It’s rather obvious that in a few months I might not be my father’s heir anymore.” 

“Yes, I suppose that means that you’ll have to start looking for a rich husband,” he answered with a faint smile. “Why not me? I’m rich enough since the Queen in the North rewarded me with Dreadfort.” 

“Another jest, Ser?” Her voice cracked. 

“After all this time, do you know me so little, Brienne? I am serious,” he said, stepping closer and pushing a lose strand of hair from her face, his fingers brushing lightly over her scarred cheek. 

“But you are right, you are rich enough now. You could marry any fair noble maiden.” 

“Exactly.” He leaned in for a kiss, but she pushed him back. 

“And I am neither fair nor a maiden.” 

“No, you are not fair, but you were a maiden when I first took you, if I recall correctly.” 

“So that’s what this is about?” she asked incredulously. “Are you feeling... guilty for taking my maidenhead?” 

Hyle laughed at that. “I assure you, I’ve had plenty maidens and never felt guilty enough to marry one of them.” When he saw Brienne’s expression harden he quickly added: “But I promise, that I will be faithful to you. Oddly enough I find myself behaving more honourable when you are around.” 

Brienne studied his face for a while, then she said: “Once my father has a son by his new wife, I will have no title or lands or much of a dowry to offer you.” 

“I know, but I have gotten so used to your casual disdain that I should hate to part from you.” 

“I do not disdain you,” she said softly. 

“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes, I will marry you’.” Hyle stepped closer once more, putting one hand on her hip and the other at the back of her neck. She didn’t push him away this time, as he moved closer, closer. 

“Will you, Brienne?” Their lips were only an inch apart now. 

“Yes, Hyle.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Let it go" by Fauxliage, which is a great song Jaime/Brienne/Hyle.


End file.
